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In simple words, what a CPO House does is, it adds to agencies’ capabilities, without a large investment, helping you grow from small to big and from big to bigger.

This is how it works?

Creative Process Outsourcing partnerships can be taken as a strategic move by the agencies in order to gain a competitive edge in the market. It thus, opens up opportunities for organizations/agencies to utilize skill sets and expertise that they normally would not be able to access without a large investment. It can also become a savior to startups and small agencies, which have a modest capital to work with.

In times when creative teams are overburdened with routine jobs that take up much of their time and there is a constant rise in the cost of resources, the marginal profits of the agencies are going down. This is where a CPO can help you out, by helping your provide better services to your clientele, at a lower cost.

Here area few advantages that you enjoy with a CPO partnership:

1. Enhanced service portfolio:

There are many agencies that provide only specific creative services to their clients, but there are clients’ who want all their creative work to be done from a single point of contact. In such a situation, agencies either have to say NO to the client or have to contact different agencies for each service. This is where a CPO steps in. It can provide a single touch-point for various services required, working for the client on behalf of and under the name of the agency.

2. Better focus on core competency:

As the agency grows or the number of clients grows, routine jobs for the creative teams also multiply. These jobs take up much of the time and energy of the creative teams. Outsourcing these jobs frees the creatives from non-core functions and puts their focus back on their core competencies. This also gives the agencies more time and opportunity to expand their business, while reducing the cost of human resources and infrastructure.

3. Complete flexibility of resources:

A CPO house provides you complete flexibility in choosing the resources as per your requirement. These are trained in your regional and cultural sensitivities and do not take much time in understanding your brand and agency procedures.

Besides, each resource comes with a probation period, where you can observe the resource’s performance and in case you are not satisfied, you get an option of replacement at no extra recruitment cost. Additionally, you have the flexibility to lay off a resource by giving a notice of just 15 days, without paying for any liability or dues.

4. Reduced operating & resource costs:

Lower cost is perhaps the biggest advantage of creative outsourcing. Work is done at a fraction of the cost as compared to the cost incurred when it is done locally without compromising on quality. Besides the resource cost, you also save on your operational costs with limited resources stationed at your entity.

5. Entry into the untapped SME market:

Today,the SME market is not just massive and growing but also mostly untapped. This is mainly because the agencies find it difficult to bear the high costs of the resources in the region for exploring this low-cost segment. With a CPO partnership, an agency can easily enter the growing SME market, without having to bear the cost differentials.

Listed above are just some of the advantages that one can enjoy by outsourcing work to a CPO. Be it a small sized agency looking for growth, a mid-sized agency looking to diversify or even a large-sized agency planning to expand in various sectors and regions, a CPO can always come handy for providing better, more diversified and cost-effective services to the relevant market.

CPO or Creative Process Outsourcing refers to outsourcing a segment of the creative process by advertising agencies to a team sitting offshore.

If you identify with any of the following, CPO could really come handy for your agency.

Overburdened creative teams

Mundane, routine jobs taking much of your resources’ time

Rising cost of resources

Unreasonable client demands

Anything that you think is taking up too much of your time and effort or is getting unmanageable with the available resources can be tossed over to a CPO. These offshore teams work in two basic partnership models with you. You can choose the one that suites you the most.

1. Resource Support:

This model seeks to fill in a human resource gap that you may have, or in fact help you expand your team at a lower cost. No matter what skill set you require, be it a writer, or a designer, a web developer, a content creator or a proofreader, you can acquire it on a per seat basis. These resources come with complete infrastructural support at no recruitment cost and are well trained in regional and cultural sensitivities. They work as an extended team for your agency sitting offshore, and follow all agency procedures, as is expected from your in-house resources. In case the agency is not satisfied with the resource’s performance during the pilot, it can request to change the resource. Also, if you feel there is no need for the resource anymore, he /she can be laid off at a shorter notice period without paying any penalties.

The CPO follows the following steps to make sure the agency’s requirements are met adequately:

Understanding agency requirement

Estimating the required number of seats

Understanding the required resource quality, skills and expertise

Freezing the variables based on which the candidates are selected

Sending the selected profiles to the agencies

After approvals, training the resources to assure quality

Sending regular work reports to the agency

2. Creative Support:

Sometimes, agencies do not wish to hire a resource, but do have some mundane work that needs to be taken care of. In this case, the agency can seek CPO services on a per project basis. This model is usually used for repetitive and template-based work like ad adaptations, BTL promotions, newsletters, catalogues, etc. This is also very useful for regular digital marketing services like SEO, blog/ web/ social media maintenance and the like.

In some cases, agencies also seek creative support to expand their service umbrella and capture new markets through pitches, without incurring the cost of additional human resources, infrastructure, etc.

Since, in both these models, the resources work for or as part of the agency, any work produced for the agency, during the course of the partnership remains the intellectual property of the agency.

Advertising and marketing communication is a market of ideas and intellectual properties. Here, the quality and time of human assets is the biggest factor in maintaining delivery standards and proving progressive services. Maintaining large teams of quality human assets is not just an expensive proposition but also, a tiresome one.

With the rising costs of inputs and employment, and restrained client spends, advertising agencies across countries are finding it more and more difficult to meet the growing client demands, dealing with competition and deliver quality in time.

To combat these growing concerns, the concept of Creative Process Outsourcing is gaining popularity in the developed economies across the world. Creative Process Outsourcing or CPO is a one-stop solution for advertising and marketing agencies to get quality work done from outside, at a much lower cost and under their control.

The Definition.

Creative Process Outsourcing refers to outsourcing a segment of the creative process by advertising agencies to a team offshore, on a per project or retainer bases with the purpose of either saving costs or expanding their service umbrella or both.

In simple words, CPO house is an independent firm that works on behalf of a creative agency to generate services for the client, under the banner of that Creative Agency.

CPO houses offer varied services ranging from complete resource support to all types of creative, content and routine support. The resource support offered to agencies come with full infrastructural support and are trained in regional and cultural sensitivities, which ensure quick and easy understanding of the agency’s clientele as well as the agency itself. They work as direct employees of the agency, but remain on the payrolls and infrastructural support of the CPO house. This saves the agency, the cost of recruitment, infrastructure, maintenance and attrition management of new employees.

Creative Support can range from design and content services to adaptations, online management, web / application development and so on.